Favourite book: Deep Medicine by Eric Topol or Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. (Linda Daly)
Wise Children have taken the novel, smooshed it together with a rock musical mother and an ensemble theatre father, and have let the ensuing love child stampede its way into Edinburgh’s King’s Theatre. (Claire Wood)
Subha J. Rao: How did you envision the episodes [of Anantham]-- each from a different time, featuring people going through a varied set of circumstances?PV: Once we decided upon the house, we created a front elevation to suit our idea of Anantham. We worked on the garden to reflect the changed circumstances of the house, depending on who lived there. If you notice, each story has a particular emotion; so we decided, while writing the screenplay, that each one should be lit and shot differently. Cinematographer Bagath and I decided to stick with the main props but keep changing the others. We played with colour — one highlight wall in the house was always different. Even the style of shooting the various stories was different – the second one, 'Seetha,' had grey lighting, and lengthy shots, almost Jane Eyre-esque or Charulatha-ish.
Gli autori e i libri che secondo te andrebbero letti assolutamente quali sono? Consiglia ai nostri lettori almeno tre libri da leggere nei prossimi mesi dicendoci il motivo della tua scelta. (...)
Se poi intendi dei classici… allora le cose cambiano.
Potrei consigliare “Cime tempestose” della Brontë perché è una sorta di thriller emotivo. (Translation)
Anne Brontë is quoted on a list of family love quotes on Di Lei (Italy). MusicalRadio (Germany) mentions the Wise Children's Wuthering Heights recently published score. Relógio d'Àgua Editores (in Portuguese) recommends Agnes Grey. Cubalite (Cuba) recommends the TV series The Essex Serpent to fans of Jane Eyre.
A couple of new editions of Brontë novels with covers by Malika Favre:
Emily BrontëBarnes & Noble: Signature ClassicsImprint: Union Square & Co.ISBN: 9781435172524April 2022With its emotionally tortured characters and richly Gothic atmosphere, Wuthering Heights has endured as one of the world’s most popular novels. Now, distinctively packaged with a beautifully designed jacket by noted illustrator Malika Favre.
A limited-edition Giclée print of the cover drawing is for sale on the illustrator's website.
Barnes & Noble: Signature ClassicsImprint: Union Square & Co.ISBN: 9781435172524October 2022Jane Eyre is Charlotte Brontë’s best-known work and is generally acclaimed as one of the greatest novels of the nineteenth century. This hardcover edition is packaged distinctively with a beautifully designed jacket by noted illustrator Malika Favre.
Despite their status as pillars of 19th century literary culture, the radicalism of the Bronte sisters never fails to astonish. Charlotte is bold enough, with her blazing defence of Jane Eyre’s equal humanity against the patriarchal power and patronising attitudes of Rochester before his fall. And in Wuthering Heights, Emily goes further, exposing not only what we would now call the toxic masculinity embraced by Heathcliff and his bullying adoptive brother Hindley Earnshaw, but also the unspoken politics of race and empire that is now recognised as part of Emily Bronte’s world – with Heathcliff, the dark-skinned “other”, allegedly found on Liverpool docks by old Mr Earnshaw – and the politics of the earth itself, in the form of the wild Yorkshire moors that are adored by Heathcliff and Earnshaw’s daughter Cathy, and that themselves embody resistance to a fast-encroaching industrial and commercial revolution that will change the face of the earth.In Emma Rice’s thrilling and sometimes startling stage version of Wuthering Heights – substantially rewritten, yet always faithful to the spirit of the original, with Rice’s powerful lyrics driving the action to music by composer Ian Ross – The Moor becomes a character in her own right, replacing the novel’s servant-narrator Nellie, and leading the chorus-like cast in a wild and irresistible backbeat to the narrative, ranging from fierce dance sequences to the wails and howls of the windswept moor at its most brutal.Nandi Bhebhe is magnificent as the Moor, Liam Tamne and Lucy McCormick epic and unforgettable as Heathcliff and Cathy, bound together by a compulsion that seems more cruel than loving, given the brutality of the world that shapes them. And if Rice’s occasional resort to comedy and send-up sometimes jars a little – notably in the scenes involving the over-civilised Lintons, and other assorted metropolitan toffs – the huge power of her theatrical storytelling soon sweeps us onward again, in a production that Rice conceived as a Greek-style tragedy about what might happen if, as individuals and as a society, we allow cruelty to take hold; and which she fully succeeds in endowing with all of that status, and power. (Joyce McMillan)
Lucy McCormick, more than anyone, has a duty to carry a character so often misjudged – a fiercely energetic woman, a devourer of the banal and chaser of enjoyments, McCormick’s presence is notable through the performance – even when remaining silent for significant periods. There is undoubted chemistry she shares with the cast, not only the blazing passions of Heathcliff, but the manipulations of her neighbours, and the mournful, sorrowing gaze she shares with her daughter.Liam Tamne, swallowed by self-conceited revenge, avarice, and a desire to live beyond the view his darker complexion affords him. Left behind by Catherine, Heathcliff resides in a world of no meaning, a ramshackle collection of degraded memories and self-destruction, emulated in his manner of trashing Mortimer’s distressed set. Tamne succeeds in progressing Heathcliff’s physical changes, but more so in the mental and psychological strength, he gains at the loss of so much.In a world in which the Gods of Chaos and Revenge command much of the Moors, the voice given to the landscape itself, of a gnarling, yet embracing presence for those ‘lost’ to their homes, Rice adapts Wuthering Heights, not into a comedy, but a pastiche, an advancement handled with deft care and respect – while flinging open the doors of the Manor House to encourage as diverse an audience as possible. (Dominic Corr)
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (1966)The “mad woman in the attic”, Mr Rochester’s first wife in Jane Eyre, is one of literature’s most notorious characters. For Jean Rhys, in this prequel to Charlotte Brontë’s novel, she’s also among the most overlooked and least understood: the fate of the marginalised the world over. Rhys allows her to tell her own story and to reclaim her Creole identity, turning fiction’s most infamous bout of arson into an act of justice. (James Owen)
As well as genre, there is the question of how we train young boys to read. [Novelist Howard] Jacobson grew up on Jane Austen, George Eliot and the Brontës: “That was my world. Jane Eyre was the novel I most loved. I was Jane Eyre.” (Mary Ann Sieghart)
“The Hacienda” is a supernatural Gothic romance in the vein of “Rebecca” and “Wuthering Heights,” and like its predecessors, a furious woman is at the bottom of the trouble: María Catalina, Rodolfo’s first wife. “Her essence was the sickness, and the house was festering, rotting with her from the inside out.” Beatriz doesn’t have a chance at happiness. (Danielle Trussoni)
MO: As a followup, is the gothic a particularly potent place for feminist stories?SW: There are so many powerful stories by women that could be described as feminist gothic, including classics like Jane Eyre and “The Yellow Wallpaper,” and also Southern Gothic fiction about women from authors such as Carson McCullers and Toni Morrison. So I think writers today can build on that legacy. The gothic is a powerful form for exploring trauma and what has been repressed, so that makes it ideal for telling feminist stories. (Molly Odintz)
In a way, some novels are already made for the ADHD brain. Books should encourage a wandering mind. Inspire rumination. Prose like Margaret Atwood’s fizzes and pops, but there are other moments where it lilts and glides; you put it down, and reflect and grow. Readers would miss that if they read through the bionic lens, where everything becomes supercharged as if the writer was scribbling during a massive speed binge. Still, it would improve Wuthering Heights. (Daniel Lavelle)
Dr. Anand KumarAssistant Professor of English, Prarambh State Institute for Advance Studies and Teaching, Jhajjar Haryana, IndiaExpression Journal, Vol. 6 Issue 1 (February 2020)The novel writing becomes a major preoccupation with the writers of the Victorian Age. But the novelists of the Victorian Age could not be as direct, frank, and explicit as William Black, Keats, Shelly and Byron in their depiction of love. The Victorian beliefs about love, Romance, and sexuality were quite oppressive. The theme which dominated the nineteenth century fiction was the rejection of stereotyped insipid image of Victorian Heroine, whose personality was founded on chastity and rejection of the general belief that woman can reach happiness through her relationships. The advocates of this theme were Mrs. Gaskell, the Brontë sisters, Thackeray in some moods, George Eliot and in part even Dickens. Out of these writers, Charlotte Brontë’s women characters are the victim of the patriarchal hegemony. She lost her mother when she was merely one years old and after that she was much attached with her sisiters. She wrote only two novels and her novels are replete with the emotions and feelings of the women of the age in which they lived.
However, in this production of Wuthering Heights you can expect to be by carried through the story with music and dance and the ensemble who play the role of the moors and they will be your guide.Liam Tamne was the perfect Heathcliff. At the beginning of the show the audience are presented with this mysterious man who is dark and brooding but as we flashback to Heathcliff as a boy, we see him trying to fit into the new family he has been adopted into. In scenes with Catherine as children we see them laughing and having fun together. Tamne did well to differentiate between these different moments in Heathcliff’s life and he was very versatile.Lucy McCormick has a palpable energy as Catherine Earnshaw. Again, much like Heathcliff we see Catherine move through life and as the story unfolds and Lucy did well to discern between the different points in Catherine’s life. The older she got the more the audience saw her character spiral out of control. Lucy also had a fantastic voice and her rock ballad at the end of act one was exceptional. I really enjoyed Lucy’s performance however I did feel sometimes she portrayed Catherine too hysterical. (...)Nandi Bhebhe does a sublime job at the Leader of the Moor. She had a magnificent voice and her fluidity of movement was astounding. Nandi acted as the narrator of the show and did well to lead the audience through the story.The ensemble was an integral part of this show as they played the role of the Moor. They all had great energy. The ensemble for this performance consisted of Katy Ellis, TJ Holmes, Jordan Laviniere and all of the cast member mentioned above as well. (Alison Jeni Frater)
This is modern theatre at its best using multi-rolling, song, interpretive movement, puppetry and even a live band. The set is minimalist yet beautiful with the main stage wings being removed exposing the full team of stagehands and cast. Most of the set is made up of a single wall featuring several doors that can be flipped and used on either side and a series of chairs and ladders stacked on top of one another. There is also a projection in the back of the stage used regularly to depict the ever-changing Yorkshire weather. [...]McCormick is hauntingly mad giving Catherine a childlike yet worryingly unstable characterization. It’s clear to the audience that Catherine is making the wrong decision repeatedly but in her mind, she is just thinking selfishly like a child, throwing a tantrum when she doesn’t get her way. It’s not that she doesn’t care for Heathcliff she’s just not mentally mature enough to understand his thoughts and feelings.Tamne takes us on an emotional roller coaster as Heathcliff making us fall in love with the character, pity him and eventually hate him. His performance is stunning.Katy Owen has her audience belly laughing bringing the comedic value to the show whilst also playing two lead roles that follow tragic story lines and Nandi Bhebhe brings more laughs with her strong and confident Leader of the Moor.This cast is exceedingly strong also featuring Sam Archer, Tama Phethean and Mirabelle Gremaud as well as many more bringing multiple characters to life.Whilst the plot is rather complicated at times with a lot to keep up with, it makes for a fantastic watch. Emma Rice has once again brought a much-loved novel to life and gave it colour with music and modern theatrical techniques. There are of course moments that may baffle the watcher, such as Catherine breaking into a rock ballad halfway through but nothing too bizarre. I highly recommend giving the show a go even if you don’t think it’s your usual thing, the three hours soon fly by. (Beth Eltringham)
Which fictional character most resembles you?I would have to say the depiction of my childhood self in Hideous Kinky, my first novel. But if that’s not allowed, Anna in Jean Rhys’s Voyage in the Dark, and Jane Eyre, for her determination and her receptiveness to other worlds.
Seymour reserves most space for discussions of Wide Sargasso Sea, which some consider Rhys’s masterpiece. One moment in her reading stands out, in the context of Seymour’s interest in ghostliness: “Locked away by a husband who scorns and seeks to banish her (‘She was only a ghost. A ghost in the grey daylight’), Antoinette refuses to become another in that anonymous throng of nameless sufferers, that nearly inaudible incantation from the depths of the Great Forest”. It was reading this passage that I realised: Rhys’s fiction is an attempt to prove that she has been there, lived there, dwelled there; that the ghostly women she conjures up eluded even those they were standing before, plain as day. Rhys wrote to keep from becoming a ghost. (Lauren Elkin)
That said, I don’t believe any of us are defined solely by our circumstance – and ‘love-across-the-divide’, where seemingly insurmountable differences of background or opportunity are overcome in the name of love and fate, has always formed a classic love story narrative and structure. From Romeo and Juliet to Jane Eyre to The Notebook, we recognise and have a huge appetite for these stories. Within them, love usually overcomes all. But it would be naïve to think that, even today, circumstances beyond our control – be that class, gender, sexuality, education, or privilege – don’t impact on who we meet, and how we love.
I must be honest. I moved to Cornwall for love and a utility room. I was trapped in the giant squid of London housing and London schools with a man who hates London. We lived above a betting shop in Gospel Oak, and I fantasised about a two-bedroom flat in Muswell Hill near outstanding state primary schools. I even dreamt of Muswell Hill one night, imagining it as a walled white city like Gondor in Middle Earth, on an escarpment overlooking the City of London with flags fluttering on its walls. The gates were shut. My subconscious knew it and so did my husband: Gondor/Muswell Hill was closed to us.He is a comic among other things, and he understands the importance of timing. I showed him the particulars of the two-bedroom flat in Muswell Hill and suggested that, because one outstanding state primary school in Muswell Hill had a vast, paper model of Jane Eyre in its library, our son must attend it “because it’s destiny”.
Emily Brontë and Anjet DaanjeSelection and Translation: Anjet DaanjePassageISBN: 9789054524076Anjet Daanje's novel Het lied van ooievaar en dromedaris and the accompanying collection of poems Dijende Gronden are both the result of years of study of the life and work of the nineteenth-century writer Emily Brontë and her sisters, Charlotte and Anne.Emily Brontë became famous for her novel Wuthering Heights , but she also wrote nearly two hundred poems, which, like her novel, were remarkably modern for their time. Charlotte, the author of Jane Eyre , wrote of her sister's poems:'I know—no woman that ever lived— ever wrote such poetry before […] The pieces are short, but they are very genuine: they stirred my heart like the sound of a trumpet.'For Dijende Gronden , Anjet Daanje chose Emily Brontë's most beautiful poems. She translated them into Dutch, and was also inspired by them to write her own poems.In her poems Emily Brontë was mainly concerned with the imagination and death, themes between which she saw a close connection. A century and a half later, when you read her poems, you cannot avoid referring them to her own untimely death. She was only thirty years old when she died of TB, a year after the publication of her only novel. Dijende Gronden therefore also includes two poems by Charlotte, which she wrote a few days after Emily's funeral, in an attempt to express her great grief. The collection ends with a cycle of poems by Anjet Daanje about the death of Emily Brontë, seen alternately from Emily's and Charlotte's perspective.
Het lied van ooievaar en dromedaris
Anjet Daanje
Passage
ISBN: 9789054524076
Eliza May Drayden, the main character of The Song of the Stork and the Dromedary , is already dead when the novel opens in the year 1847 in the Yorkshire village of Bridge Fowling. Each subsequent chapter moves a bit in time relative to the previous one, until the story in the eleventh chapter has arrived in our present time. The novel therefore does not tell about Eliza May Drayden's life, but about her turbulent life after death.
The reader comes to know Eliza May through the lives of others, and through biographies and treatises about her, for she was the author of an exceptional novel, maligned during her lifetime, but over the course of 170 years recognized by more and more readers as a masterpiece is seen. Very little is known about her life, the circumstances under which she died are a mystery, and besides her novel, the only text she has left behind is a notebook containing mysterious drawings, poems and tables.
Anjet Daanje was inspired for her novel by the life and work of the nineteenth-century writer Emily Brontë. The stork and dromedary song builds on the ingenious story structure of the novel Wuthering Heights. While Wuthering Heights has two narrators and the story spans two generations and twice eighteen years, The Song of the Stork and Dromedary has eleven narrators who take the reader into a story that spans three centuries.
Trouw has an interview with the author and our blog is mentioned:
Anjet Daanje: ‘Waarom maken we van Emily Brontë zo’n abnormaal geval?’
Haar nieuwe roman inspireerde Anjet Daanje op de mythe rond Emily Brontë, schrijfster van Wuthering Heights. Een biografische roman moest het niet worden. ‘Ik schrijf niet graag over mensen die echt bestaan, daar krijg je maar problemen mee.’ (...)In de etalage van de ontvangstruimte van de Groningse uitgeverij Passage waar dit gesprek plaatsvindt, pronken de bruin-zwart gevlekte boeken (een ontwerp van Daanjes broer Dieb). Het lied van ooievaar en dromedaris kent elf vertellers, omspant twee eeuwen en is geïnspireerd op leven en werk van de gezusters Brontë, op het postume leven van Emily Brontë met name, schrijver van Wuthering Heights, de beroemde gothic novel over de verdoemde geliefden Cathy en Heathcliff, door Kate Bush ooit de hitparade in gezongen.De drie zussen die midden 19de eeuw geïsoleerd leefden op de Yorkshire Moors, samen acht romans schreven en jong stierven, worden hier misschien niet veel meer gelezen, maar in de Angelsaksische wereld zijn ze nog steeds groot, zegt Daanje. “Wat Rembrandt voor ons is, een vast merk, als marmite”, lacht ze. “Er is een Brontëblog dat de vermeldingen wereldwijd bijhoudt. Iedere dag trekken nieuwe artikelen, bewerkingen, tentoonstellingen, studies voorbij. Terwijl toen Emily Brontë stierf waren er twee exemplaren van haar enige dichtbundel verkocht en Wuthering Heights, haar enige roman, had twee goede recensies gekregen. De overige critici wisten niet wat ze ermee aan moesten. Maar zo beroemd is ze 180 jaar na haar dood.”Voor Daanje zijn de Brontës, zoals voor meer lezers van haar generatie, een jeugdliefde, en een grote. Jane Eyre van Charlotte Brontë las ze op haar zestiende, ze schreef er een scriptie over. In 2017 trok ze de romans opnieuw uit de kast. “Na de dood van mijn ouders blikte ik terug op mijn jeugd en wilde ik wat van vroeger lezen, als troost. Ik was een beetje huiverig, bang dat de boeken tegen zouden vallen, te romantisch en kinderachtig. Maar Jane Eyre is heel goed. Het gaat meteen over haar diepste zielenroerselen die in de verfilmingen nooit zo aan bod komen. Ik werd vooral gegrepen door Wuthering Heights, een raar en ongrijpbaar boek; een boek over wraak, donker en gewelddadig, alleen maar egoïstische personages, zonder moraal.” (Read more) (Translation)
Interior experts at Hammonds Furniture have ranked 125 locations in the UK based on local house prices, Instagram data with a survey of 2,000 UK adults.Both popular Yorkshire tourist hotspots, Whitby and Haworth came fourth and sixth place respectively.Both the destinations’ high number of tagged Instagram posts and good value local house prices compared to Yorkshire as a whole has earned them a place in the top 10 rankings. [...]Haworth, which is famously known as the birthplace of the Bronte sisters, has been tagged 135,000 times on Instagram and offers even better value, with house prices 15 per cent lower than West Yorkshire on average. (Liana Jacob)
The event will take place on Rue des Braves. Part of the street has been closed to car traffic until 31 August, as the community centre and the municipality agreed to transform it into an accessible meeting place. [...]After this temporary experiment, the street will know its destiny. Its name will also be changed from Rue des Braves to Place des Soeurs Brontë, in line with the feminisation of street names. (Belle de Jong)
Charlie, though, is a different story. He is the stereotypical male character portrayed as an emotionless cyborg or, in the words of Nora, "a second-act Heathcliff. (Adrita Zaima Islam)
Raised by a nanny and servants, Afshar had everything done for her until, aged 14, she read Jane Eyre in French while studying at Tehran’s prestigious Jeanne d’Arc School. Charlotte Brontë’s novel describes a woman who has to support herself after losing everything. “I realised, if you left me on the side of the road, I wouldn’t be able to get my clothes on, let alone be a carer for somebody,” Afshar recalled. “So I said ‘I’m going to England’.”
La libreria si chiama "Jane & Edward", anche se loro sono Valentina e Davide. Il romanzo di Charlotte Brontë “Jane Eyre“ c’entra comunque, perché è il primo libro che hanno letto insieme e che probabilmente li ha fatti innamorare e poi sposare. E’ così che, uniti dalla comune passione per la lettura, questa coppia di 46 e 47 anni, ha deciso di andare là dove li portava il cuore e di realizzare un desiderio comune: aprire una libreria di quartiere. (Olga Mugnaini) (Translation)
According to PEOPLE, Depp has said, “Am I a romantic? I’ve seen Wuthering Heights 10 times. I’m a romantic.” (Amy Francombe)
Broadway Records has released a recording of Wise Children's production of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights recorded at London's Lyttleton Theatre. Adapted and directed by Emma Rice, the musical is available for digital download.The cast is led by Lucy McCormick as Cathy and Ash Hunter as Heathcliff, with Sam Archer, Nandi Bhebhe, Mirabelle Gremaud, Stephanie Hockley, TJ Holmes, Craig Johnson, Jordan Laviniere, Katy Owen, Tama Phethean, and Witney White. Musicians include Sid Goldsmith on guitar, Holmes on cello, Johnson on accordion, musical director Nadine Lee on drums, and Renell Shaw on double bass/electric bass.The recording, released in partnership with London's National Theatre, features arrangements by Ian Ross and additional arrangem
ents by Goldsmith, Lee, and Shaw. The album is produced by Ian Ross and Simon Baker, engineered by Charlie Simpson and James O’Shea with mixing by Baker and mastering by Michael Fossenkemper. (...)The track listing follows:1. "I Am the Moor"2. "Feral Joy"3. "Bluebell"4. "Cut Through the Dirt"5. "Cathy’s Curse"6. "Are You Still Hungry"7. "All Hushed and Still"8. "Paper Love"9. "Home" (Andrew Gans)
An historic home with links to the renowned Brontë family is for sale on the edge of Todmorden, close to Hebden Bridge.Newswires reports an interesting musical project by the composer Lisa Logan:
The Old Vicarage is a stunning property surrounded by countryside - a period home made modern and extremely comfortable, with a large, open plan kitchen and six bedrooms.
The Brontë sisters, Anne, Charlotte and Emily, with their brother Branwell, stayed at the house when visiting their great uncle, the Rev John Fennell of Stone Cross Church, in 1829. This was one of two recorded stays and occurred following the loss of their mother, Maria Brontë.
In one of her surviving letters, Charlotte, then aged 13, wrote about poor weather during their stay, but recorded their reading and lessons while there. Another visit took place in 1840 when they viewed the newly built church at Stone Cross. (Sally Burton)
Brief information about the composer: Lisa Logan is an emerging composer, her first opera A Silver Spoon: the love story of Princess Diana and Dodi will be a premiere. She is currently workshopping her second opera Brontë, composed during lockdown, based upon an acclaimed play by leading female playwright Polly Teale. Bronte, the opera has recently been given support from Britten Pears Arts via its composer residency scheme and an Arts Council of England DYCP award.
The Waif Girl in literature has been around much longer than Frances, but 170 years ago she had substance. In Wuthering Heights she was Cathy, roaming the moors with Heathcliff, as wild and violent as the nature that surrounded her. Emily Brontë’s sister, Charlotte, wrote a Waif Girl in the form of Jane Eyre – quieter and more timid than Cathy, but just as radical in her independence of thought. (Roisin O'Connor)
Don't miss Charlotte Bronte's gothic tale Jane Eyre at Glen Street Theatre. It tells the story of a spirited orphan in search of love, family and a sense of belonging. Witness one of the most iconic pieces of English literature retold in a faithful yet fiercely original production, from the nationally-renowned shake & stir theatre co. Features original music by multi ARIA award winner Sarah McLeod. (Nadine Morton)
One of the characters is Jane Curtin, a famous novelist, who analyses the craft during an interview on stage in New York.
She is a breakout author from the ‘60s with vague connections to the Tory Party.
“I wanted to make her rich and interesting,” Purcell said.
Her life and that of her niece Daisy are constructed out of Brontë and Austen novels. (Rhonda Dredge)
She was never deterred by language barriers and relished being invited into the homes of Bulgarian factory workers, Afghan villagers and retired Pakistani military officers. In the mullah-dominated country of the Great Salt Desert in Iran she found herself stoned by youths one day but followed by adoring schoolboys clutching copies of Jane Eyre the next.
Wuthering Heights (2011)Emily Brontë's 1847 novel is a tale of class disparity and love lost. Poor orphan boy Heathcliff is taken in by the Earnshaw family, where he forms a bond with his foster sister Catherine. When the Earnshaw patriarch dies, Heathcliff is demoted to servant status and Catherine marries a member of the gentry. Heathcliff takes his revenge, eventually becoming master of Wuthering Heights but is forever haunted by the ghost of his beloved Catherine, who he could never be with.While Andrea Arnold's 2011 film isn't particularly entertaining, it does stay true to the Gothic themes of isolation and emotional turmoil. The cinematography is gritty, utilizing shots of the sublime landscape surrounding Wuthering Heights and drawing attention to the strikingly cruel acts Heathcliff has to suffer through. The lack of dialogue is unnerving at times but functions as a true representation of the mysterious characters in the book. (Daniella Di Carlo)
The most remarkable thing about Verity for me was Hoover’s writing style. She knows how to set an atmosphere – I was constantly reminded of the Brontë sisters. Jane Eyre in particular kept popping up in my head: a house with a weird dark vibe, a limited number of characters, limited outside contact, classic elements of Gothic horror.
This British television drama series is an adaptation of a novel written by Charlotte Brontë with the same title. It aired on BBC1 network, from 9th October to 18th December 1983. Barry Leopold Letts was its producer and it was written by Julian Charles Becket Amyes. It starred Zelah Clarke as Jane Eyre, the female protagonist, and Timothy Leonard Dalton Leggett as Edward Fairfax Rochester. It had a total of 11 weekly episodes. (Neha Mishra)
Gracewood is, without a doubt, one of the best leading men in recent memory. He is best described as a combination of Rochester from Jane Eyre and Darcy from Pride and Prejudice, but he is so unique that it almost does him a disservice to make the comparison at all. (Jules)
Florencia encontrou o ponto de partida para abraçar a literatura quando leu o romance Jane Eyre, da inglesa Charlotte Brontë, um clássico de 1847, e que ganhou de presente do seu pai, que a incentivava sempre no ato da leitura. (...)“O livro de Charlotte Brontë me causou uma sensação diferente, uma vontade de ler que superava a dos livros anteriores”, disse a escritora, que aos 10 anos já havia lido autores como Mark Twain, Júlio Verne e Louisa May Alcott. (Alex Medeiros) (Translation)
Ana Abelenda: Además de un caso por resolver, hay grandes compañías en esta novela: Henry James, Percy y Mary Shelley, Walter Scott, las Brontë... ¿Por qué?M.O.: Todo lo que escribimos es fruto de ese pensamiento que crearon otros autores. Algún lector me dice: «¡Ah, La cabaña del Tío Tom [que sale también en la novela] lo escribió una mujer!». Es alucinante cómo hemos olvidado todo ese bagaje cultural que da base a lo que somos. (Translation)
ARTICLES
Welcome by Rebecca Yorke, Brontë Society Interim Director and Editor, Gazette
Letter from the Chair by Trish Gurney, Chair of Brontë Society Board of TrusteesClose-up on the Collection: ‘We knew we had a Brontë letter…’ by Sharon WrightDefying Expectations: Inside Charlotte Brontë's Wardrobe by Eleanor Houghton
Jocelyn Horner, Sculptor of the Brontës by Kate WalkerMembership Matters: Welcome / Benefits of Membership / Documents for the General Annual Meeting / And Finally... by Linda Ling, Membership OfficerLooking to the Future: Could you be a trustee of the
Notices / Dates for your Diary
Brontë Society?
The Women’s Prize Trust is widening its branded merchandise range to support its charitable work, which aims to assist emerging writers and to give readers most in-need access to the very best contemporary novels by women.New products include an illustrated book bag designed in collaboration with award-winning cover designer Holly Ovenden, and two new t-shirts emblazoned with the names of literary legends Agatha Christie and Emily Brontë. (Sian Bayley)
A couple of new Brontë-related dissertations:
Emma CiervoState University of New York, 2022By applying the lenses of postcolonial and trauma theory to the novel, we can begin to develop an understanding of how Jane and Bertha can become critically intersectional characters. Each of these lenses illuminates the clear struggle that each woman faces within a tightly structured Victorian society, and their means of navigating it result in their processing of emotions on a deeper level. I argue that while on the surface it appears that Jane and Bertha are each recognizing the other, they do so only on the most basic level because each only sees it in relation to her own self rather than on a more widespread level. Throughout this thesis, I argue that by exposing the crudeness of this original intersectionality, as well as the privileges gained and lost through the patriarchal structure of Victorian society and empire, Brontë's initial creation of crude intersectional characters can evolve into a deeper level of understanding of one another, or what I am calling critical postcolonial intersectionality.
Lilly StephensSewanee: The University of South, 2022
Wuthering Heights (William Wyler, 1939)An interesting adaptation of Emily Brontë’s famous novel, Wyler’s Wuthering Heights does not cover much of the narrative of the book but it manages to capture the atmospheric aura as well as the artistic sensibilities of the source material.Olivier delivers a fantastic performance as Heathcliff, a tormented lover whose life is complicated by pressing sociopolitical realities. The film ended up earning eight Oscar bids including a Best Actor nomination for Olivier but it was Gregg Toland’s mesmerising cinematography that won. (Swapnil Dhruv Bose)
7 Which Brontë sister’s first novel, The Professor (1857), centres on William Crimsworth? (Olav Bjortomt)
A National Theatre, Wise Children, Bristol Old Vic and York Theatre Royal co-production.Wed 25 May to Sat 28 May 2022Evenings: 7.30pm | Matinee Sat 2pmKing's TheatreEdinburghRescued from the Liverpool docks as a child, Heathcliff (Liam Tamne) is adopted by the Earnshaws and taken to live at Wuthering Heights.In their daughter Catherine (Lucy McCormick), Heathcliff finds a kindred spirit and a fierce love ignites. But, when forced apart, a brutal chain of events is unleashed.Shot through with music and dance, Emma Rice (Rebecca, Wise Children, Brief Encounter) transforms Emily Brontë’s masterpiece into a passionate,
powerful and unique theatrical experience.Adapted and directed by Emma Rice. Composer, Ian Ross. Set and costume, Vicki Mortimer. Sound & video, Simon Baker. Lighting, Jai Morjaria. Movement and Choreography, Etta Murfitt.
Jan [Crippin]: Our wedding day started at the Pyramid, for the ceremony and drinks, followed by a coach and car convoy to the Brontë old school rooms for afternoon tea.We went to Haworth on our first date, so we took all our friends there as it felt like the right place to go.Charlotte Brontë had her wedding with afternoon tea in the very same room. (Heidi Summerfield)
The Turbine Theatre has announced a workshop presentation of their new musical adaptation of Emily Brontë's literary classic, 'Wuthering Heights'. At just twenty-five, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama graduate Lizzie Lister wrote and composed this musical with her father, Mick Lister, and classical pianist Clare Lonsdale. (...)Director Emma Gersch said: "I am totally thrilled to be working on this magical project. As soon as I heard the songs, I was blown away and knew that this was a story I wanted to be part of telling. I have been passionate about the adaptation of classics for many years, and when music is woven into the storytelling, I feel like new levels can be transcended."An hour-long extract of the working production will be exclusively presented to industry and public on Thursday June 2nd (7.30pm), Friday June 3rd (7.30pm), Saturday June 4th (3pm and 7.30pm). Tickets are available on the Turbine Theatre website. (Marisa Torreo)
The original DIE comic book series takes place in a twisted planet of magic, its twenty triangular realms inspired by the imaginations, desires, and beliefs of storytellers and role-players throughout human history. The dark, twisted nature of the comic's world in no small part is due to the unfortunate implications baked into many of the imaginary worlds people dream up. The war-torn realms of Little England and Eternal Prussia, for instance, are influenced by early tabletop war games of H.G. Wells and George Leopold von Reisswitz (with J.R.R. Tolkien's Hobbits playing the role of cannon fodder in trench warfare battlefields), while the picturesque city of Glass Town is inspired by the imaginary world created by Charlotte Brontë and her siblings. (Coleman Gailloreto)
On May 19, Stewart shared an idyllic snapshot of her new dessert that’s fit for an Emily Brontë novel. (Delilah Gray)
Wycoller Village and Country Park has been hailed for being a hidden gem for its ruins, streams and craft centre. It is located just a few miles from Colne and was passed between several high profile Lancashire families before falling into ruin.For those with a love for literature, its thought to have inspired Ferndean Manor in Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre and on top of its written history, old features from the hall like the fireplace are seen to have been maintained. (Rebecca Lockwood)
Literary retellings can be either lighthearted fan fiction or classics in their own right, running the gamut from Jean Rhys’s brilliant “Wide Sargasso Sea,” inspired by “Jane Eyre,” to Seth Grahame-Smith’s pulpy “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.” (Bethanne Patrick)
The English novelist Pym (“Excellent Women,” “Quartet in Autumn”) went in and out of fashion during her lifetime, and since. Byrne’s biography arrives at a time of rekindled interest. Rhys is best known for “Wide Sargasso Sea,” her feminist prequel to “Jane Eyre.” Seymour captures her childhood on the Caribbean island of Dominica and the rest of her often turbulent and challenging life.
Hadn’t the great authors of the past penned their masterpieces by the light of a solitary lamp? I could picture Goethe labouring over his Faust, Shakespeare over his Sonnets, Dostoyevsky over his Crime and Punishment (probably in a prison cell), and Emily Brontë composing Wuthering Heights by the light of a flickering lamp while a snowstorm raged across the moors that surrounded her father’s lonely parsonage. (Ruskin Bond)
I highly recommend perusing the inn’s website (www.innboonsboro.com) to see the unique amenities that the beautiful historic boutique bed-and-breakfast has to offer. Luckily, my husband and I visited on a Sunday through Monday, so we were able to get the popular Jane and Rochester room from “Jane Eyre,” which we highly recommend with its king-sized wooden canopy bed, classic fainting couch, fireplace, copper tub and private entrance. (Lauren Burke Meyer)
The Herald announces the upcoming performances of Wise Children's production of Wuthering Heights in Edinburgh. A Croatian graduate student and an English major list Wuthering Heights among their favourite books on Dubrovniknet and Her Campus. The Sunday Observer (Sri Lanka) recommends reading Jane Eyre (or any book by the Brontës).
Susa argitaletxeak dioen moduan, hitzen zoo librea osatu du Lizar Begoñak poema-liburu honetan. Logika egituratuei aurre eginez, eta formaren aukerak zukutuz, mundu garaikidearen testurak bildu ditu, organikoenetatik ukiezinetara. Besteak beste, palmondoak, abereak, belar txarrak, Bergman, Brontë, Oteiza, Le Guin etab. hartu ditu solaskide, zentrorik gabeko eremu batean kiribiltzeko gonbita eginez irakurleari. (Paul Picado) (Translation)
Esto no se lo he contado a ninguno, pero quería que la novela fuera muy sencilla de leer, pero que su estructura fuera compleja. Me encantaba la estructura de Cumbres borrascosas, que es como el propio título, borrascosa, difícil, pero, sin embargo, el lector superficial no se percata. Quería hacer un homenaje a los victorianos, que me encantan. Creo que es de las primeras novelas en las que se utilizan las tres personas narratives. (L. Penide) (Translation)
Editorial
pp. 85-88 Author: Fanning, Susan
Anne Brontë and Geology: a Study of her Collection of Stones
pp. 89-112 Author: Sally Jaspars, Stephen A. Bowden, Enrique Lozano Diz & Hazel Hutchison
This research is focussed on Anne Brontë’s collection of stones, which are housed at the Brontë Parsonage Museum, and how they connect to her time in Scarborough. Obtained during the ‘golden age’ of geology, the collection was recently recharacterized using Raman spectroscopy. In this interdisciplinary study, we explore possible sources of the stones and the different factors that may have influenced Anne to obtain and maintain her collection of stones. The significance of Anne Brontë’s stones and her connections to mineralogy and geology reveal Anne’s interest, knowledge and abilities within these fields.
Salvator Rosa’s Influence on Emily Brontë
pp. 113-127 Author: Starke, Sue
Abstract
Emily Brontë was a landscape artist in two media: text and image. Her aesthetic was shaped by the work of the seventeenth-century Italian artist Salvator Rosa, whose ‘spiritual landscapes’ of the dark, rocky and mountainous Abruzzi wilderness captured the imagination of earlier English collectors before being dismissed as old-fashioned by Victorian art critics. Contemporary reviewers of Wuthering Heights recognized the affinity of visual sensibility between the two, while the novel employs a landscape iconography derived from Rosa. The most notable example is the motif of the twisted fir tree, which figures prominently in the novel and inspired her to make her own pencil drawing study. Emily Brontë infuses the Salvatorian sublime into her descriptions of landscape while also channelling Rosa’s fascination with outlaws in the wilderness in the characters in her Gondal poems. A study of Rosa’s influence on Emily Brontë’s work reveals her to be a sophisticated aesthetic archaist.
Policing Victorian Women’s Desire: Retracing Mirrored Patriarchy in Jane Eyre and Villette
pp. 158-1 160 Author: Carolyne Van Der Meer
Abstract:
This essay locates avenues in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Villette for discussing the parameters of women writers’ internalized patriarchy in Victorian Britain. The first segment treats the importance of the protagonists’ reliance upon different mise-en-abyme books, which act as mirrors that reflect and foreshadow the forlornness of Victorian women in Charlotte Brontë’s two novels. In the second segment, we discuss how Jane and Lucy acknowledge and become the delegates of Thanatos, the androcentric privilege, at the end of their narratives. Psychoanalytic concepts such as the mirror metaphor and the discussion of Eros and Thanatos are used as means to appreciate the detour of desire (which constitutes literary narrative) in the inevitable tour of death.
John Robinson, Mr Nicholls and the Brontës
pp. 141-153 Author: Juliet Hesle
Abstract:
Anne
Much is known about the people who were close to the Brontës, but John Robinson, a young boy who lived one mile from Haworth, in Stanbury, is given only a sentence or two
in several major biographies.
When he was thirteen, John became a pupil-teacher at the school in Haworth, a role for which he required extra tuition. He received this on Saturday mornings from the Rev Arthur Bell Nicholls. During his lessons, John witnessed first-hand Mr Nicholls' distress over his unrequited love for Charlotte Brontë—a situation John never forgot and was able to vividly recall later in life. Two newspaper articles featuring John's reminiscences add much to our knowledge about the private suffering of Mr Nicholls as well as John's closeness to his teacher. When Mr Nicholls married Charlotte, John was one of the few people invited to attend the ceremony. By the time he was eighteen, following the progress he had made in his studies, John was about to embark on a promising career when he received some very personal gifts from Patrick BrontëIn ttis paper, I hope to retrieve John from obscurity by examining the nature of his unique, close relationship with Mr Nicholls while revealing the esteemed place he held within the Brontë family. Brontë’s ‘A Hymn’ was written at a time when hymns were ‘of the moment’ and many women were engaged in hymnody. It shares with Anne’s other religious poems a vision of God as mighty, powerful, loving, merciful and actively interventionist, and a vision of humanity as feeble, inadequate, inconstant and inconsistent. It is distinguished by its exploration of two versions of the universe: one informed by God its Creator and the other its Godless alternative. ‘A Hymn’ has many traditional stylistic features of hymns and on one level belongs to a familiar class of hymn, the hymn of doubt; but it is also radical in facing head-on an atheistic vision emerging in the nineteenth century.
Book Reviews
Women’s Letters as Life Writing 1840–1885
pp. 154-156 Author: Jacqueline H. Harts
Charlotte & Arthur
pp. 156-158 Author: Sophie Franklin
The The Wool Is Rising and Shirley and the Leeds Mercury
pp. 158-159 Author: Carolyne Van Der Meer
Sally Jaspars says novelist’s rock collection shows youngest Brontë sister ‘was in tune with the scientific inquiry of the time’A student has helped reveal that one of Britain’s most famous authors was not only a talented writer but also a skilled rock collector with an active interest in geology.Anne Brontë, the youngest of the three Brontë sisters, built up a collection of attractive specimens before her death at 29 in 1849.It was previously thought the author of Agnes Grey collected items because of their aesthetic value, but researchers have revealed she was an informed and skilled geologist during the science’s golden age.Sally Jaspars, who is studying Brontë as part of her PhD at the University of Aberdeen, said: “Her interest in geology is mentioned in her literary works – indeed in The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall she references the science and a book by Sir Humphry Davy directly.”She called on the help of Stephen Bowden, from the university’s school of geosciences, to analyse the collection, housed at the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Howarth, West Yorkshire.Along with experts from the University of Leeds and a specialist spectroscopy company, they found that as well as the carnelians and agates Brontë collected in Scarborough, where she worked as a governess, the collection contains flowstone and a rare kind of red obsidian that originated outside of the UK.It is also likely that Brontë would have visited the Rotunda Museum, close to where she stayed in Scarborough, researchers said, which contained exhibits featuring the area’s geology.Jaspars said: “This is the first time that Anne’s collection has been systematically described and fully identified, and in doing so we add to the body of knowledge on Anne and show her to be scientifically minded and engaging with geology. She was an intelligent and progressive individual who was in tune with the scientific inquiry of the time.”The research has now been published in the journal Brontë Studies.Bowden added: “Our Raman spectroscopy analysis which we undertook at the Brontë Parsonage Museum shows that Anne Brontë did not just collect pretty stones at random but skilfully accumulated a meaningful collection of semi-precious stones and geological curiosities.“Anne’s collection comprises stones that are sufficiently unusual and scarce to show that they were collected deliberately for their geological value, and it’s clear that her collection took skill to recognise and collect.”
“I was lucky enough to play Jane Eyre when Kay wrote an adaptation of it and I was so honoured,” she said. “I was very working-class and normally the actresses that play that role are certainly not from a children’s home in Nottingham. Up until that point I’d auditioned for costume dramas and they always said ‘she just isn’t the right class’. But Kay believed in me. She changed my life.” (Nadia Khomami)
But Yorkshire cinema is so much more than angry men and kitchen sinks: the regions rolling moors and misty atmospherics also lend themselves to a unique brand of British romanticism. [...] Andrea Arnold’s radical reimagining of Wuthering Heights (Netflix), meanwhile, is as febrile with the county’s natural wildness – its changeable weather and surging wildflowers – as it is with Heathcliff and Cathy’s own unruly passion. (Guy Lodge)
Can you even believe that Mr Voldemort got his filming beginnings playing Heathcliff in Emily Brontë's 1992 Wuthering Heights? A heartthrob before his time as scaly character, He Who Must Not Be Named. (Abbie Meehan)
The orphan trope is a very old one, going back to European folktales of the 18th Century at least. Depriving a child of parents gave them agency in the story -- allowing Hansel and Gretel to outsmart the wicked witch, for instance – while enhancing the sense of danger. The 19th Century saw an explosion of orphaned characters in literature -- from Oliver Twist to Jane Eyre to Peter Pan – based largely on the same premise. (Robert Vaux)
Bonelli recomienda la lectura «Jane Eyre», la obra que consagró a Charlotte Brontë.¿Cómo descubrió este libro?Me lo compró mi padre cuando era pequeña, tendría unos diez años. Él fue mi «proveedor» de literatura durante muchos años y quien me inculcó la pasión por la lectura.¿Por qué lo elige?Supongo que mi padre me lo compró porque era un clásico de la literatura, como ya había hecho con tantos otros, de Mark Twain, Julio Verne, Louisa May Alcott, etc. Lo cierto es que este libro de Charlotte Brontë me provocó una sensación distinta, unas ganas de leer que superaban la de libros anteriores. Creo que en mi mente inocente de niña acababa de descubrir que mi género favorito era el romántico, al cual pertenece Jane Eyre.¿Qué destaca de él?Que la historia de la institutriz Jane Eyre refleja las vivencias de la autora, quien, a mediados del siglo XIX, debía trabajar para mantenerse ejerciendo este oficio. Una vez Charlotte dijo que era muy dura la vida de las gobernantas porque se sentían muy solas: el resto de la servidumbre las consideraba por encima y, por lo tanto, las ignoraban, y la familia de los pupilos lo hacían por debajo y, por lo tanto, también las ignoraban.¿Se siente identificada de alguna manera?Jane Eyre está muy por encima de mí. Su nobleza, su bondad y su incapacidad para sentir rencor la convierten en uno de mis personajes favoritos, sin duda para imitar. El personaje masculino, Edward Rochester, a pesar de mostrar una fachada dura y cínica, es un gran hombre, con sentimientos que hablan de una nobleza de espíritu que los reveses de la vida no consiguieron mancillar. (Juan Beltrán) (Translation)
There were shoutouts for our famous names, Zayn Malik, David Hockney, and the Brontë Sisters, whilst others suggested Bradford is the curry capital. (Rowan Newman)
Alex JohnsonIllustrations by James OsesFrances LincolnISBN: 9780711258013Rooms of Their Own travels around the world examining the unique spaces, habits and rituals in which famous writers created their most notable works.The perennial question asked of all authors is, 'How do you write?'. What do they require of their room or desk? Do they have favourite pens, paper or typewriters? And have they found the perfect daily routine to channel their creativity? Crossing centuries, continents and genres, Alex Johnson has pooled 50 of the best writers and transports you to the heart of their writing rooms – from attics and studies to billiard rooms and bathtubs.Discover the ins and outs of how each great writer penned their famous texts, and the routines and habits they perfected. Meet authors who rely on silence and seclusion and those who need people, music and whisky. Meet novelists who travel half-way across the world to a luxury writing retreat, and others who just need an empty shed at the bottom of the garden. Some are particular about pencils, inks, paper and typewriters, and some will scribble on anything – including the furniture. But whether they write in the library or in cars, under trees, private islands, hotel rooms or towers – each of these stories confirms that there is no 'best way' to write.From James Baldwin, writing in the small hours of the morning in his Paris apartment, to DH Lawrence writing at the foot of a towering Ponderosa pine tree, to the Brontë sisters managing in a crowded co-working space, this book takes us into the lives of some of history's greatest ever writers, with each writing space illustrated in evocative watercolour by James Oses.In looking at the working lives of our favourite authors, bibliophiles will be transported to other worlds, aspiring writers will find inspiration and literature fans will gain deeper insight into their most-loved authors.
“Wuthering Heights”: The season kicks off in November with the West Coast premiere of celebrated British stage actor and director Emma Rice’s audacious and acclaimed reinvention of “Wuthering Heights,” Emily Brontë’s gothic love story. Rice directs the touring production featuring her Wise Children theatrical company. (Randy McMullen)
Again, [Virginia] Woolf gave Bennett the cold-shoulder.He (15 years her senior) goaded her for being a woman, hence prone (in his view) to too much meandering, a lack of focus — with the exception of Emily Brontë, ‘No woman has yet produced a novel to equal great novels of men.’ (Roger Lewis)
Waititi then added, “I’ve shied away from this idea of romance (before). I love Wuthering Heights and how big that love story is, and how over-the-top and operatic it is. They’re f**king declaring, I am Heathcliff and Heathcliff is me. We’re nowhere near as big as that, but it’s about love and about people who want love and what love means to people.” (Vidhi Dubey)
Charlotte Brontë (original author), Stephanie Baudet (adapted by), Arianna Bellucci (illustrator)An 8-book box set of the Brontë sisters classic novels – at an easy-to-read level for age 7+!From the haunted Yorkshire moors to the towering battlements of Thornfield Hall, experience the Brontë sisters’ famous stories of love, self-discovery and family feuds.This 8-book box set includes Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Shirley, Villette, The Professor and a biography about The Life of the Brontë Sisters.
